The Aftermath: The Times and Struggles Following the Great War of 2186
The Great War of 2186 lasted no more than a few months. But in those few months, billions of lives were lost. The great civilisations of the Milky Way had never seen anything like this before, and were not prepared, despite the countless warnings from a very famous many years before. During the war, this same human would unite the races of the galaxy together to eliminate the Reaper threat and end the vicious cycles that has gone on for hundreds of millions of years, if not more. The final battle of the war took place in orbit and on the surface of Earth, the homeworld of humanity. The galaxy, united in its effort led the largest armada in history, numbering in the tens of thousands. The humans, turians, asari, salarians, hanar, drell, elcor, volus, krogans, quarians, geth, batarians and more races stood together, our final hour, our greatest hour. The Battle of Earth was our last stand, everything we had ever built, every child that was born or will be born, counted on our victory. Many of those present at the battle of Earth had witnessed thousands of years of civilisation being destroyed in seconds. The battlefields of Thessia, Illium and Palaven were just examples of what was at stake. Background Fate of the Galaxy In January of 2187, the war against the Reapers had already gone on for six months. The young, heroic Commander Shepard had formed together the strongest and largest fleet in history. With a fleet strength of just over 65,000 ships, most of which were Quarian liveships, Commander Shepard led the fleet through the Charon Relay into the Reaper-infested system of Sol, humanity's home. Together, the vast armada came out of the Relay into Sol. The fleet came across very little resistance until they approached Mars. When they did, a small Reaper vanguard of five Destroyers engaged the fleet. Three of the Reaper ships were destroyed, while the remaining two fled back to Earth. The fleet took very little damage, as they coordinated heavy fire on the Reapers, however they still lost seven ships to the Reaper vanguard. Political Impact The Reaper war left a significant impact on galactic politics. Reaper invasions of various homeworlds caused the death of several important members of government. Following the war, many governments were severely crippled, some colonial governor-ships had been completely wiped out. The political blockage of the Reaper threat that allowed the galaxy to be ill-prepared had caused a major shift in trust between political leaders and military leaders. Because of this, the galaxy would soon face a period of dictatorships coming into power. Citadel Council When the Reapers captured and moved the Citadel in orbit above Earth, the Council, along with all member-species ambassadors had been killed. The not cause major damage to the Citadel, the Reaper launched hordes of indoctrinated ground forces all across the Wards and the Presidium. The Citadel Defence Force was heavily outnumbered and was forced to evacuate the station in order to still provide assistance to Shepard's coalition. However, the CDF and C-SEC failed to save the three Councillors from the Reapers. By the time friendly forces made it to the Council chamber room, they were already dead. Ambassadors as well as their aides were also killed. Following the end of the war, with the Citadel and Relays heavily damaged, the races of the galaxy still saw fit to reform the Council. It was also decided that the Hanar, Drell, Volus and Elcor would be granted permanent Council membership for their efforts in the war, and possible Councilor-ship in the coming years.. The Quarians and Batarians were also re-granted embassies and ambassadors to the Council. The Krogan were also offered an embassy, but later declined under the leadership of Wrex, choosing to focus on the rebuilding of Tuchanka and establishing a stable central government before taking part in galactic politics again. This eased anxiety of Krogan retaliation for the Genophage and the Council races and the Krogans established good relations for years to come under the guidance of Urdnot Wrex. *Councilors **Asari: Aerisa T'Sorala (2187- ) **Salarian: Kirell Golbyn (2187- ) **Turian: Vartus Lianthus (2187-2189); Garrus Vakarian (2189- ) **Human: Darius Calder (2187- ) *Ambassadors **Hanar: Epal **Drell: Niirah Vovu **Volus: Bufta Kon **Elcor: Thaelyn **Quarian: Nalina'Oriza vas Ketsa **Batarian: Sharak Korcathrax Systems Alliance The Systems Alliance took a heavy beating during the war. Before Earth was attacked, Arcturus Station, the seat of power of the Alliance that was home to the Alliance Parliament and Prime Minister was destroyed by the Reaper fleet. In an instant, most of the Alliance government body was killed. Only colonial Governors, Alliance Representatives on Earth and military officers remained. At the end of the war, only some surviving Governors, Admirals and Generals stood to lead humanity. Before the war, Earth did not have a unified planetary government. The Systems Alliance was the representative of several sovereign nations that still existed on Earth such as the United North American States, Chinese Peoples' Federation and the European Union. The Alliance also enforced laws on human colonies and was the main military force when it came to galactic affairs. With most government destroyed by the Reaper invasion, the Systems Alliance had unified the entire planet into one central government. With former nation capitols such as Washington D.C., London, Berlin, Moscow and Beijing wiped from the map, there were very few leaders of humanity left. While rebuilding efforts took many years, Vancouver was chosen to be the new capitol of the Systems Alliance after the destruction of Arcturus Station. With Alliance Parliament reformed and a new Prime Minister elected, humanity could now begin the process of rebuilding its colonies and rejoining the galactic community. Economic Impact The war cause stock markets across the galaxy to plummet to near zero. With many homeworlds under siege, the galactic economy was on the brink of collapse. With many trade routes passing through Reaper-controlled systems, trade and supply chains became an increasingly difficult task. Military Impact Technological Impact Cultural Impact